Voice-controlled host software?

[ras.s]

I was reading this Reuters Digital News Report's 2016 predictions document, a interesting read about digital media use in its own right, and there was this line that caught my eye:

"For publishers the main implication of AI is that they’ll have to get used to making content work not just for multiple screens but for no screens (so called Zero UI). That’s because over time more of us will talk to applications rather than touch them."


That got me thinking about when will we see the first DAW that will literally listen to its user? I mean.. why not? I for one wouldn't mind being able to tell the sequencer to scrap that previous recording while I'm still over at the keyboard, without having to get a hold of the mouse and then click around to remove a recording, perhaps needing to pause the music if I'm looping something. Turn down the drum bus? Go back to beginning? I'm thinking those things and I've got a microphone connected to my computer, I might as well say it.


I've been using Bitwig Studio for a while now and over at Bitwig's own sub-forum here at KVR, the company's efforts in making the program touch capable has often been met with surprisingly strong resistance. I don't have a touch screen, but I think I would benefit from having one when interacting with the software. But now that I think about a voice controlled host software, it's really surprising to me that no one has done that yet. It wouldn't even have to be recognising the commands through full-fledged voice recognition or artificial intelligence, a close enough match with a pre-defined recording of a command would do.


"Load Diva with preset XYZ, arm Diva" would be a splendid set of commands for blind musicians.


The only technical difficulty I can think of right now (besides voice recognition) is of course having the microphone on even when playing back music through the speakers, which would likely cause feedback. My audio interface has a handy button for switching between the front and rear inputs that in my case would solve the problem. Some interfaces and monitor controllers have microphones for talking to the person in the recording booth, so something like that could be set up as well (essentially a push button to active/deactivate a microphone).


What do you think, would you find it useful? Something worth bugging DAW developers for?

[dzilizzi]

I have tried using Dragon software and differentiating between commands and content can be a real pain. I guess it can be learned. I actually would not have a problem with touch, however. As long as the thing you are touching is sensitive enough, but not too sensitive. You don't want to mess up a whole mix with a wave of your hand.